Rally Portugal organisers have announced that they are no longer working to re-schedule a FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) round in 2020.
After initially announcing that a new date is being looked for Rally Portugal from the original May 21-24, the organisers have now announced that they are no longer working towards 2020 WRC season but all focus has shifted towards 2021.
The idea was to push the 2020 date to October but it has seemingly become difficult on both sides, which is why the decision to call off Rally Portugal has been taken, leaving one confirmed cancellation in WRC due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Rally Chile, meanwhile, was cancelled as well but it was more for a political reason. As things stand, Rally Argentina and Rally Italia Sardegna remains the only two rounds to be postponed as the next event is Safari Rally Kenya (July 16-19) on WRC calendar.
The statement from organisers read as:
“The Automovel Club de Portugal made significant efforts to run the event this year at the end of October. After a joint assessment together with our partners, the various municipalities, national authorities and sponsors, all health and safety conditions needed to run the WRC Vodafone Rally de Portugal in a safe way are not achievable given the unpredictable situation that we live in these days, and also the uncertainty of opening the national borders or airspace.
“Due to this critical situation the Automovel Club de Portugal is forced to cancel the Portuguese round of the 2020 FIA World Rally Championship. The Automovel Club de Portugal deeply regrets this decision. But it is the responsible decision bearing in mind the thousands of supporters, teams, municipalities, sponsors and all the people involved in the event, that was responsible in 2019 for an economic impact in the national economy of more than 142 million euros.
“ACP has already applied for WRC Rally de Portugal to return to the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship in a May date.”
Here’s the last from WRC
Here’s how WRC Rally Mexico happened
Here’s the details of postponement of WRC Rally Argentina